Dallas Cowboys Blog

Horn: New executive plans to use Cowboys’ rights to bring 105.3 The Fan out of radio basement

Those who even informally track local radio sports talk ratings know it is an experience very much like watching Groundhog Day over and over.

Month in and month out, the final standings have The Ticket way out front, followed by ESPN-FM 103.3 with 105.3 The Fan bringing up the rear.

Well next month CBS Radio is bringing a new boss to town to run its sports talk station. Gavin Spittle is returning to The Fan from Houston where he is credited with building KILT (610 AM) into the dominant sports talk station in town.

It should be noted that before his 3½ years as program director at KILT, he worked for CBS in Dallas where in December 2008 he was one of the executives who helped launch The Fan, which technically is known as KRLD-FM.

It’s not like Spittle is replacing a lightweight. Bruce Gilbert, who is departing for greener sports talk pastures at Clear Channel, once ran The Ticket and spent time as general manager of the ESPN Radio Network. The Fan, however, has remained a solid No. 3 in his 2½ years at the station.

Spittle said he borrowed from The Ticket to boost KILT’s fortunes.

“We became a personality driven station like The Ticket rather than a place where they just talked scores,” he said. “We also were the flagship station of the Texans. We built KILT around those two things.”

At The Fan, Spittle already has the Cowboys. He said he plans to heavily rely on that No. 1 sports draw in town. But “we are not going to try to be The Ticket. When you try to copy, you fail…You won’t hear promos anymore that mention that other station. ”

For now, Spittle has ESPN in his crosshairs.

“The first thing we will try to do is become No. 2,” he said. “I say let’s tackle ESPN.”

As you might expect, Spittle was unwilling to map out his game plan.

“We need to build an identity,” he said. “We will see who are our compelling personalities. If we need more, we will hire more compelling personalities.”

It should be noted that in Houston, which now has five all sports stations, Spittle hired new personnel for weekday morning and afternoon drive times, the most important time slots on any radio station.

It’s unclear how The Fan might have evolved if CBS didn’t bring in Tom Bigby to essentially replace Spittle two months into the station’s sports talk format. Bigby, legendary in Philadelphia for his work at WIP-AM (610), proved mortal at The Fan. Gilbert succeeded Bigby.

“This is a huge challenge,” Spittle said. “I enjoy taking on huge challenges. I am coming to build a brand.”